Learning From ExperienceAfghanistan stabilized after 9/11. Let's get back to what was working.

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Reaching an impasse, my colleagues and I went to look at other parts of the world in search of patterns of success and failure in state-building. Fixing Failed States—a book I co-authored with Ashraf Ghani, the architect of much of the 2001-05 transition—sets out that learning.

What does this mean for Afghanistan now? Since 2005, Afghanistan has plunged from 117 to 176 on Transparency International's corruption ranking, one of the fastest declines in the index's history. At the same time, the trust of Afghan citizens in their government has plummeted. If we take a step back and look to how countries transform themselves from poverty and conflict to stability, a basic principle rings loud and clear. A country is not stable until it has a functioning state that performs key functions for its citizens. And behind every successful transition are four factors: a leadership and management team with a long-term vision and commitment to building good governance based on the rule of law; a relentless focus by those leaders on what we call "national accountability systems"—putting in place the building blocks of transparent revenue raising, budgeting, procurement, accounting, and auditing; nurturing civil society, in particular by investing in skills and training of citizens within the country in question, who must be empowered to take the lead; and nurturing small- and medium-sized firms that will give people a stake in the system. With these basic ingredients, Afghanistan could be put on the path to stability.

Putting Afghanistan back on such a path will certainly require funding and expertise from outside, but in a different type of partnership based on joint commitment to rule of law and building an accountable state. The countries that transformed successfully all partnered with the aid system but with a clear vision for how best to use the money, with rights and responsibilities on both sides and clear recognition that domestic leadership was the critical factor. In the short term, resources and military commitments will be required for Afghanistan, but if good governance were restored, Afghanistan could be steadily raising its own revenue and meeting its own bills. A series of reinvigorated national programs managed and staffed by Afghans in partnership with development banks and experts would be far cheaper than the thousands of foreign-run projects. By supporting national programs in partnership with civil society, donors could shift their emphasis to creating a good governance system from the bottom up.

There is a whole range of organizations in the United States and across the world—from volunteer associations to land-grant colleges—that could partner with the effort at reasonable cost. New technologies, such as soil analysis of satellite imagery and using long-distance engineering and architecture support, could drastically reduce the costs of travel and security that are necessary when outsiders are on the ground; they could instead partner with Afghan engineers, architects, and agronomists at Afghanistan's universities. Rather than sending in thousands of civilians, the shift in emphasis could be to training Afghans to do the jobs themselves. Afghanistan has just sold its large copper mine to China and can license more of its assets to raise money. And if investors—especially Afghans—had confidence in the future of the country, they would start financing the range of enterprises necessary to create jobs and supply domestic and regional markets with food, building materials, textiles, and minerals, and thereby grow the domestic tax base.

Sadly, it is not just Afghanistan that we need to worry about. There are as many as 60 countries that are facing a "sovereignty gap"—that is, a gap between the legitimate expectations of their citizens and their ability to deliver on those expectations. If we can demonstrate that a new type of partnership works in Afghanistan, we can provide hope around the world.

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